


The Soil Bound Us Together

by Shaitanah



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-03
Updated: 2011-06-03
Packaged: 2017-10-20 02:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/207590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaitanah/pseuds/Shaitanah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The life and death(s) of a Winchester. [spoilers up to 6x22]</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Soil Bound Us Together

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, CW, etc. Title from “Handlake Village” by Takida.  
> A/N: “What do you read, my lord? – Words!” © And yes, I LOL at the epigraph. I believe it’s a good joke.

_We can change our lives. We can do, have, and be exactly what we wish._

Tony Robbins

 

This is Sammy, Dean tells one of the teachers (back when Sam could still fit in his lap). He’s my baby brother. I’m taking care of him.

 

Because their superhero Dad is away again.

 

Sammy isn’t much of a company. He doesn’t even talk properly yet, just burbles something random that sounds like words but mostly has no meaning. Later, Dean likes to tell girls that his brother’s first word was “Dean”, because, _cute_. The truth is Dean doesn’t really remember.

 

\--

 

This is Sammy, he tells himself (when Sam is a comatose gigantor sprawled in front of him in Bobby’s panic room). He’s my brother. I’m taking care of him. And I’m doing a freaking bang-up job by the looks of it.

 

At the beginning of this circle, it doesn’t occur to Dean that, while their family business isn’t exactly normal, it leaves something to be desired. Maybe it’s because Sam doesn’t remember Mom. Dean does and he knows that normal is not possible. But Sam leaves. Pissed-off and lonely as he is, Dean pretends it’s an okay thing.

 

But then Dad dies _(who asked him to, anyway?)_

 

and Sam dies _(which is different from all the times they have almost-died, but doesn’t last either)_

 

and Dean goes to hell _(which isn’t a career option he would have chosen if he’d tried looking for a new job)_

 

and the world ends _(except it doesn’t, not yet)_

 

and Sam says yes to the devil _(except he doesn’t)_

 

and they both die _(and heaven is lame, like a mental hospital where the nurses aren’t even hot)_

 

and Sam dies again

 

and then Sam comes back, but Dean has been dead inside for a year – and honestly, how many D-words can two human beings take for one lifetime?

 

Death rolls his eyes. Sooner or later, his employees will refuse to reap them.

 

\--

 

Sam isn’t much of a company. He doesn’t talk at all, he just lies there and makes Dean feel guilty.

 

Hell clings to both of them like second skin, leaving souvenirs in the corners of their mind. A wisp of a memory here, a ghostly image there. Dean fights them off by laughing at them _(it’s been a long time)_ , but he forgets that Sam’s hell had a much more personal touch. In his dreams Sam probably sees Lucifer laughing at him.

 

\--

 

“It’s okay, Sammy,” Dean makes another promise. “I’ll take care of you.”

 

 

 _June 3, 2011_


End file.
